Photo by Eric Keith / St. Joseph News-Press

The 17th street homes are new construction, and both come with a basement and garage.

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Drumroll please.

On July 14, Mayor Ken Shearin will draw the names of two people to buy two new Midtown homes. Qualified low-income residents have until July 9 to apply for the drawing.

The city of St. Joseph built one house using federal HOME funds, and Community Action Partnership built the other, side by side at 402 and 414 S. 17th St. The homes cost $115,000 to build, but the buyers will only have to pay $90,000.

This is the first time in 10 years that the city has acted as developer of a HOME house, said community development manager Gerald McCush. The drawing ideally will open the opportunity to more people than a real-estate agent could.

“I want to be fair about this, because No. 1 it’s a bargain, and we want to give the opportunity to everyone,” Mr. McCush said.

(The losers, however, might question the fairness after the double-whammy of sitting through a City Council meeting.)

The maximum income guidelines are as follows: $29,250 for a single person; $33,400 for a family of two; $37,600 for a family of three; and $41,750 for a family of four. Applicants also will need to pass a credit check to help guarantee their ability to receive a bank loan for the homes.

People can apply until July 9 by contacting the city at 271-4609 or Community Action Partnership at 233-8281.

Photo by Eric Keith / St. Joseph News-Press

A drawing will determine who can purchase the keys to a pair of homes at 402 and 414 S. 17th.

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The three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes are not gifts. The house payments could be roughly $565 a month, plus insurance and property taxes, depending on the interest rate.

“They’re buying the house,” Mr. McCush said. “They’ll have to go to a bank to get a loan.”

The city must walk the fine line of building a quality house without overspending, Mr. McCush said. If the house fell apart within a few years, the homeowner would be overburdened.

Mr. McCush said he feels good about the cost to the taxpayer, since no new houses are being built anywhere in St. Joseph for close to $115,000.

Peters Home Repair submitted the low bids to build the houses.

Joe Blumberg can be reached at joeblumberg@npgco.com.